Great Lakes Cinema 3 opened on November 25th, 1999. The cinemas were built over a 10 month period and replaced the single screen Tuncurry Lakes Theatre (now Tuncurry Memorial Hall) which the Howard's had run for almost 30 years.
It was recognised a new cinema for Tuncurry/Forster was needed, and the imminent end of the Howard family's longterm lease of the old building down near the bridge was one of the main catalysts that got the project on the drawing board.
Land was aquired in the heart of Tuncurry on Manning Street and over the next 10 months the $2 million project grew and grew, often with more than 30 different tradespeople onsite at any one time, and all under the stewardship of local builder Bill Howard (the owner's uncle).
Opening titles included The Bone Collector, The Sixth Sense, and Fight Club.
Local couple Peter & Danielle Howard are the owners of the cinema and are ably assisted by a dedicated staff led by chief projectionist Mick Noonan and his wife, Sue.
The most successful films during the life of the cinema have been The Dish (2000), Moulin Rouge (2001), Crackerjack (2002), The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Casino Royale (2007). In additon, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter franchise have also been very successful.
Great Lakes Cinema 3 screens an eclectic mix of the latest blockbuster films mixed in with a varied and exciting selection of specialized and arthouse titles.
Great Lakes Cinema 3 has three auditoriums of 244, 158, and 117 seats with a central foyer. There is a central box office, with a large and well stocked candy bar with all the usual cinema favourites such as choc tops (multiple flavours), popcorn, soft drinks and the omnipresent maltesers.
All auditoriums feature full Dolby Digital multichannel sound, and films are presented via state of the art projection systems including digital projection for certain features. All preshow cinema advertising is presented via our Panasonic digital projectors.
Great Lakes Cinema 3 is fully accessable for disabled and wheelchair bound patrons, and offers electronic assistance for people with hearing diffculties and who have hearing aids. Embedded under the carpet in a section of all cinemas is an inductive loop which allows those with hearing aids to tune into that loop, and reproduce the film's soundtrack through their hearing aid, which significantly enhances the movie going experience for those partons.
Great Lakes Cinema had cupholders added to all seating in late 2007.
Our digital on screen advertising provides the opportunity for you put your business message in front of the thousands movie goers as part of our pre feature presentation at Great Lakes Cinema 3.
Midcoast Cinema Advertising is a locally based specialist in High Definition digital advertisements. Our state-of-the-art production facility is capable of producing amazing results in image quality.
Hollywood has known for decades the impact the 'big screen' can have, and now it is available to your business whether you be a local retailer or a large multi-national company.
We offer a complete range of advertising options to suit any budget and have a creative team to give your business the professional edge.
For more information, contact Don Howard (02) 6553 9264, or Peter Howard on (02) 6554 9592.
